 |
| Find a Grave photo by Doris Christensen |
We got to talking at a museum Events Committee meeting earlier this week about the potential here for one of those "a taste of" festivals featuring ethnic culture and food. But standing in our way is the fact that, historically, Lucas County's largest ethnic minority was born in Indiana and Hoosiers are not known for distinctive costuming or cuisine.
Our Ukrainian neighbors in recent years have staged a couple of celebrations celebrating their culture and cuisine, so that's a possibility, but before that it's necessary to go back to the Swedes, who began arriving in substantial numbers just after the Civil War.
According to my calculations, by no means scientific, there were eight Swedish-born Lucas Countyans in 1860, 163 in 1870, 584 in 1880 and 410 in 1900 --- by which time the older members of the Swedish community had begun to die off in substantial numbers. Other ethnic contenders, the Germans and the Irish, don't even come close.
All of this led me to wonder who Lucas County's first Swedes were and I'm putting my money on Peter and Carolina Anderson, who arrived in 1858, with two Swedish-born children, John and Swan. They were listed in the 1860 census as farmers living near Chariton with John and Swan and two other children, Sarah J., 5, born in New York; and Emily, 2, born in Lucas County. Two additional children were born here, George Lincoln, in 1861, and David, in 1864.
Other contenders for the title, based upon residence in Lucas County in 1860, were John and Louisa Anderson, 27 and 26 respectively, both Swedish natives, with four children born in Iowa; Charles Anderson, 34, a jeweler; and Peter Larson, 34, also a farmer. All lived in or near Chariton.
+++
According to descendants who have researched the matter, Carolina was born Nov. 25, 1823, at Kalmar --- near the Baltic Sea in southeast Sweden --- and married Peter, also near Kalmar, on Oct. 26, 1844. They arrived in the United States in 1851 and in Lucas County during 1858.
Peter died during 1868 in Chariton, however, leaving Carolina with a family that included several young children to raise. His grave seems to have been lost. Ten years later, during 1878, she married Louis Ferm and they remained together for quite a few years, but had separated by 1900 (Louis eventually died during 1917 at the Lucas County Farm and is buried in the County Farm Cemetery).
Carolina died at her home in west Chariton on April 16, 1907, age 83, a few days after suffering a stroke and was buried in the Chariton Cemetery after funeral services at the Swedish (now First) Lutheran Church. Here's her obituary as published in The Chariton Herald of April 25, 1907:
+++
Caroline Munson was born in Wimmerby (Vimmerby), Smaland, Sweden, on November 25, 1823. In 1844, she was married in Sweden to Peter Anderson, who died in this city in 1868. They were the parents of twelve children, only three of whom, Lincoln, of this city, Mrs. Emily Granville, of Lincoln township, and Swan, of Wellsford, Kansas, are living and were present at the last sad rites.
Deceased, with her husband and family, came to America in 1851 and settled in Asheville, Pennsylvania. She came to Chariton in 1858 and this place has since been her home. It is said that she was the oldest Swedish settler in Lucas county.
She united with the Swedish Lutheran church here on March 18, 1883, and has since lived an earnest and faithful christian life. During her long residence here she won the esteem and high regard of all who knew her. She was a devoted mother, a kind neighbor and a friend, and her death is mourned by all who knew her.
No comments:
Post a Comment